Case Summary

On July 28, 2020, the State of California, various cities, and civil rights organizations filed a federal lawsuit against President Donald Trump challenging his “Memorandum on Excluding Illegal Aliens from the Apportionment Base Following the 2020 Census” as unconstitutional and unlawful. Plaintiffs argued that the U.S. Constitution and federal Census-related statutes require all persons to be included in official state population counts regardless of their citizenship status and that the President’s memorandum was motivated by discriminatory intent in violation of the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses. They requested a judicial declaration that the memorandum was unlawful and an order requiring the Census Bureau to include undocumented residents in official state population totals.

• On August 14, 2020, the federal district court consolidated this case with City of San Jose, California v. Trump.
• On October 22, 2020, the district court held the memorandum violated the U.S. Constitution and federal law and issued an injunction barring its implementation. Defendants filed notices of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court the next day.
• On January 4, 2021, SCOTUS remanded the case back to the district court with instruction to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction in light of SCOTUS’s ruling in a related case, Trump v. New York. The district court dismissed the case on January 7, 2021.

Case Library

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division - 5:20-cv-05169

• Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief - 7/28/20
• Sua Sponte Judicial Referral for Purposes of Determining Relationship of Cases - 8/18/20
• Request to the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to Convene a Three-Judge Court - 8/18/20
• Order - 8/20/20
• Order Regarding Joint Stipulation Regarding Topics for Early Dispositive Briefings and Responsive Pleading Deadlines - 8/21/20
• Order Adopting Previous Orders and Delegating Pro Hac Vice Motions - 8/21/20
• First Amended Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief - 8/24/20
• Plaintiffs' Notice of Motion and Motion for Partial Summary Judgment; Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support - 8/27/20
• Brief of the U.S. House of Representatives as Amicus Curiae in Support of Plaintiffs - 8/31/20
• Brief of Amici Curiae Members of Congress in Support of Plaintiffs - 9/1/20
• Brief of Amici Curiae Historians in Support of Plaintiffs' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment - 9/1/20
• League of Women Voters' Amicus Brief in Support of Plaintiffs' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment - 9/1/20
• Defendants' Notice of Motion and Motion to Dismiss, or in the Alternative, Motion for Partial Summary Judgment; Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of Defendants' Motion; and, Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment - 9/10/20
• Plaintiffs' Reply in Support of Motion for Partial Summary Judgment and in Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss, for Partial Summary Judgment - 9/21/20
• Reply in Support of Defendants' Motion to Dismiss - 9/28/20
• Order Granting Plaintiffs' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment and Denying Defendants' Motion to Dismiss - 10/22/20
• Final Judgment and Permanent Injunction - 10/22/20
• Notice of Appeal - 10/23/20
• Notice of Appeal - 10/23/20
• SCOTUS Letter - 1/4/21
• Order of Dismissal - 1/7/21

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit - No. 20-17105 [consolidated with City of San Jose, et al., v. Trump, No. 20-17104]

• Docket Number Assignment - 10/23/20
• Appellants' Mediation Questionnaire Form - 10/29/20
• Order Granting Appellants' Unopposed Motion to Stay Appellate Proceedings - 11/9/20
• Defendants-Appellants' Unopposed Motion to Dismiss the Appeal - 1/11/21
• Order Granting Dismissal of Appeal - 1/21/21

U.S. Supreme Court - No. 20-561 [together with City of San Jose, et al., v. Trump]

• Jurisdictional Statement - 10/29/20
• Letter from Donald J. Trump - 11/9/20
• Motion for Expedited Consideration of the Jurisdictional Statement and Waiver of the 14-Day Waiting Period for Distribution - 11/24/20
• Motion to Affirm for Appellees, City of San Jose, et al. - 11/25/20
• Motion to Affirm or Dismiss of the State of California, the County of Los Angeles, the Cities of Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Oakland, and the Los Angeles Unified School District - 11/30/20
• Reply Brief for the Appellants - 12/7/20
• SCOTUS Order - 1/4/21